How to Move Your UniFi Controller to the Cloud (Step by Step)

If your UniFi Network Controller currently runs on a Cloud Key, a local server, or a self-hosted instance, you can move it to the cloud without reconfiguring your network. The move is built around a single backup file (.unf) that holds your entire configuration – sites, networks, WLANs, firewall rules, and device assignments. This guide walks you through how the migration works, what to watch for during device adoption, and where guided help is worth it.

Why move your UniFi Controller to the cloud?

A locally hosted controller has one weakness: if the hardware fails, the power goes out, or the Cloud Key is stolen, you lose central management of your network. A hosted controller runs independently of your location, is reachable from anywhere, and is backed up continuously.

An important point to understand: the controller manages and configures your UniFi devices – it does not route your traffic. Access points, switches, and gateways keep working even when the controller is briefly unreachable. Moving it is therefore not a network outage, just a change of the management instance.

With clevendo, your UniFi Cloud Controller runs in a German data center (GDPR-compliant), with a dedicated firewall, DDoS protection, and automated backups. Get in touch if you’d like the move handled for you.

Before you start: prerequisites

Sort out three things before you begin:

• Version level: The UniFi version of your target controller should be the same as or newer than your source. As a rule, a backup cannot be restored into an older version.
• Device reachability: Your access points, switches, and gateways need to reach the new controller over the internet (Layer 3 adoption). For that you’ll need either a DNS record or the “Override Inform Host” setting – more on both below. Layer 3 adoption requires unrestricted connectivity over TCP port 8080.
• Credentials and a time window: Keep the login for your old controller handy and schedule the move for a quiet period. The restore itself usually takes only a few minutes; adopting the devices afterwards takes a little longer.

Step 1: Create the backup (.unf file)

Open your existing controller and download the backup. In current UniFi versions you’ll find it under Settings → Control Plane → Backups. The file has the .unf extension and contains your complete configuration.

Create the backup as close to the move as possible so no interim changes are lost. Keep a copy locally as well – it’s your fallback.

Step 2: Restore the backup into the cloud controller

The new hosted controller is provisioned empty. You start the restore on the target controller, also under Settings → Control Plane → Backups, by uploading and restoring your .unf file. Alternatively, the Site Export Wizard lets you move individual sites from one controller to another – handy when you want to migrate only specific locations rather than the entire environment.

After the restore, your configuration is in place – but the devices aren’t connected yet. They still “inform” the old controller. That’s exactly what you change in the next step.

For the clevendo-specific steps (provisioning, upload path, credentials), see our help center.

Step 3: Move your devices to the new controller (adoption)

This is the heart of the migration. Your devices need to learn where the new controller lives. There are several ways to do this.

Option A: DNS record “unifi”

A factory-reset UniFi device looks for the hostname unifi on your network by default. If you create an A record in your local DNS that points unifi to your cloud controller’s address, the device reports in there automatically. This is the cleanest route for fresh adoptions.

Option B: Override Inform Host

In the controller you can set a fixed controller hostname under the device settings and enable “Override inform host with controller hostname/IP.” This points your devices permanently at the cloud address. The advantage: if the controller ever moves again, a single DNS change is enough – you don’t have to touch each device. Depending on the version, this option lives under the device update and settings area.

Option C: set-inform over SSH

You can address individual devices directly. Connect over SSH and set the inform endpoint:

set-inform http://YOUR-CONTROLLER:8080/inform

The device then appears in the new controller as “Pending Adoption,” and you confirm the takeover. Replace YOUR-CONTROLLER with the address clevendo gave you.

Step 4: Follow-up and verification

A few cleanup steps matter after adoption:

• All devices online? Wait until every device shows as “Connected” in the new controller. This can take a few minutes.
• Decouple the old controller: If your old controller is still running, a device can reconnect to it. Click “Forget” on each device in the old controller so it doesn’t leave the new one again.
• “Managed by Another Console”: If a device shows this status or stays offline, a factory reset followed by a fresh adoption via one of the methods in Step 3 usually fixes it.
• Check the configuration: Spot-check your WLANs, VLANs, and firewall rules, and take a look at the automatic firmware updates.

Migration paths at a glance

When something goes wrong

If a backup restore hangs or a file won’t import, it’s usually a version mismatch or a corrupted database. If a restore fails or you get stuck during device adoption, the clevendo team can complete the move with you – just contact us and we’ll pick it up from there.

Conclusion

Moving UniFi to the cloud is easy to plan: pull a backup, restore it into the hosted controller, redirect your devices via DNS, Override Inform Host, or set-inform, and follow up. Your live network keeps running throughout. If you’d rather move without maintaining your own server, clevendo hosts your UniFi Cloud Controller in Germany, GDPR-compliant, with guided migration on request. Get in touch to get started.

Frequently asked questions